As the blockchain technology continues to expand and take root and expand, Thailand also stands to see its widespread adoption in the country. According to the Bangkok Post, a regional English daily, various sectors, including finance will adopt this new technology by the year 2018. The publication made this report in reference to the views of unnamed blockchain specialist.

There are various reasons why this could happen sooner than later. Besides its core features such as security and transparency, its inexpensive ease of use will certainly encourage many businesses to opt in. This is according to Bhume Bhumiratana, an expert in the Blockchain technology. Bhumiratana further observed that the low cost of developing and maintaining this technology is much lower than it is in traditional systems.

The Need for Regulation

While new technology has its benefits, it is also bound to require regulation. This means that regulators and policy makers have to move with haste to understand and develop regulations that can help the system develop in the right way.

Thankfully, there are people who already appreciate the existence of this need. The chiar of Fintech Association recently urged the government to create regulations that are in tandem with the widespread changes in technology.

This is urgently necessary if past occurrences are anything to go by. For example, the lack of regulations in Thailand on cross-border trade in the financial services sector has led to the ntrance of companies from other nations. The best known example of this is the Chinese giant Alibaba. Already, the company has a presence in as many as 9000 7-Eleven outlets in Thailand. Dhiraphol Suwanprateep a partner in the baker McKenzie law firm observes that if this is to be avoided in future, existing laws need to be updated.

Already, many people in Thailand are making use of the blockchain technology. For example, a remittance pilot that was run recently saw over 100 Mynmar migrant workers send money to their homeland. This was done through the baht-yuan cross-country remittance platform. This was made possible by a partnership between Kasikornbank, a Thai lender and Chinese fintech firm IBS.